You will have heard of the Warrior Queen Boadicea but have you ever heard of Aethelflaed?
She led her troops in the Battle of Tettenhall.
You probably haven’t heard of that Battle, have you?
Well, she was described as the Lady of the Mercians, who was the oldest daughter of Alfred the Great, and she played a major part in the England of today.
It goes back to 793AD when the Vikings invaded England and then jumps forward 117 years when Aethelflaed took England back.
Who was Aethelflaed?
She was the daughter of King Alfred the Great, the King who burnt the cakes!
As happened to Princesses in those days, to strengthen the alliance between Mercia and Wessex, she married the much older Aethelred, Lord of the Mercians. Rather than solely being his wife and child-bearer, she became a talented leader and political thinker. Fascinatingly, they only had one child, a daughter named Aelfwynn, because she had a difficult birth. So difficult that they had no more children. She claimed, “it is unbecoming of the daughter of a king to give way to a delight which, after a time, produced such painful consequences”.
Background
For the last 100 years Danish Vikings had controlled the north of England and were plundering and destroying large parts of Mercia.
As they moved down the country Alfred the Great, and then his son, Edward of Wessex, launched offensive attacks against the foreigners. Edward then joined his army of Wessex, with that of his sister, Æthelflæd.
Aetheflaed
Aetheflaed had already been known as someone who was prepared to stop the Vikings’ continued invasion of England.
She had overseen the fortifying of the city of Chester before the Vikings attacked and failed in 907.
The Battle
Fortunately, the Vikings didn’t know that she had joined forces with her brother, Edward the elder, and his army of Wessex.
The Danish Kings had bought a force directly into the heart of Mercia, they stopped at around Bridgnorth, in Shropshire. There they set about devastating the land and plundered whatever was valuable. Then they decided they had enough and turned to return, but they didn’t account for Aethelflaed.
The two armies met at Wolverhampton, which in those days was called Tettenhall, hence the Battle of Tettenhall on the 5 August 910. Interestingly, it is sometimes called the Battle of Wednesfield, which really tells us where it was fought.
Now what she did was to crush the Danes by squeezing them between their two armies. It was an incredible defeat for as well as killing thousands, two Danish Kings, Healfdene and Eowils died. It was the last defeat of a Danish army on English soil.
Aethelflaed and Edward then turned their armies to the south, eventually they unified England under a single monarch.
Aftermath
The defeat was so great it had the effect of stopping their raiding parties.
This allowed the country of England to unite under a single King. As the two armies merged, England united under one domestic monarch, King Edward the Elder of Wessex, who became the first King of England.
Isn’t history fun?
Ten questions to discuss:
- Who was Aethelflaed, and what role did she play in English history?
- What was Aethelflaed’s relationship to King Alfred the Great?
- Describe Aethelflaed’s marriage and family life.
- What challenges did England face prior to Aethelflaed’s actions?
- How did Aethelflaed contribute to the defense against Viking invasions?
- Can you elaborate on the Battle of Tettenhall and its significance?
- What tactics did Aethelflaed employ during the Battle of Tettenhall?
- How did the outcome of the Battle of Tettenhall impact England’s history?
- What role did Aethelflaed and her brother Edward the Elder play in unifying England?
- What were the consequences of the Battle of Tettenhall for Viking raiding parties and for the unity of England?
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©Tony Dalton